Register today!

Join our home health and hospice professionals for a day dedicated to education and learning about issues currently affecting home health and hospice facilities. This is a full, one-day event open to all home care professionals interested in earning up to 6.5 Continuing Education Units. We will also be showcasing HealthCare Synergy’s solutions and partners during our Vendor Expo. We hope to see you there!

When and What Time?

Wednesday, January 10, 2024 from 8:30am – 5:00pm

Where?

Renaissance Hotel Long Beach – 111 East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach CA 90802

The Renaissance Hotel Long Beach is situated in the heart of Downtown Long Beach. There are so many sites to see, restaurants to try, and fun to be experienced during your visit – below are a few of our local favorites!

• The Queen Mary
• Aquarium of the Pacific
• Rainbow Harbor
• Pine Avenue
• Pike Outlets
• Museum of Latin American Art
• Shoreline Village
• East Village Arts District
• Rainbow Lagoon – Swan Night Boat Ride

Attendees will receive:

• an entire day of home health and hospice education
• up to 6.5 Continuing Education Units
• self-parking at the Renaissance Hotel Long Beach and
• a chance to win some really cool prizes during breaks and lunch!

Educational sessions include:

What Do You Need to Know about How the Final Rule Could Impact Your Next Survey
Presented by Lisa Meadows, MSW
Approved for 1 CEU

Providers must juggle several different regulatory bodies in order to maintain a successful business. Often the Home Health Final Payment Rule focuses on changes related to Medicare reimbursement. At times those changes impact a Medicare recertification survey as well. This presentation will review how the recent final rule could impact your next Medicare survey.

Objectives:
1. Understand how recent updates could impact a Medicare survey
2. Develop strategies to ensure compliance

Lisa Meadows has over 30 years of experience in the health care industry; from acute care hospitalization, home health, to hospice and palliative care. Lisa is currently the Manager, Clinical Compliance Education for Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) – a nationally recognized non-profit accreditation organization that has CMS Deeming Authority for Home Health, Hospice, Home Infusion Therapy, and DMEPOS. Lisa is responsible for providing comprehensive clinical, accreditation and industry education to ACHC customers and stakeholders as well as assisting providers with interpreting the ACHC Standards and Medicare Conditions of Participation.

Lisa’s experience has allowed her to successfully prepare and lead the home health and hospice agency she was previously employed with through the ACHC Accreditation process. Lisa has also worked as an ACHC Hospice Surveyor, affording her the opportunity to assist organizations with developing best practices and compliance strategies. Lisa speaks at national and state conferences and conducts workshops on the accreditation process as well as other relevant health care topics.

Avoiding the Top Survey Deficiencies for Home Health and Hospice Agencies
Presented by Lisa Meadows, MSW
Approved for 1 CEU

This session will review the top deficiencies that commonly result in a Condition level finding for both Home Health and Hospice. Condition level deficiencies for both Home Health and Hospice can save some serious financial consequences for providers, whether it the implementation of an enforcement remedy, alternative sanction, or just the cost of another survey. Reducing your risk for Condition level findings is not always documentation related, sometimes it is process related. This presentation will review the top deficiencies and discuss the documentation needed for compliance as well as discuss processes that reduce your risk for a deficiency.

Objectives:
1. Understand the different level of deficiencies
2. Discuss the documentation needed to support compliance
3. Identify processes that may lead to the common deficiencies

Lisa Meadows has over 30 years of experience in the health care industry; from acute care hospitalization, home health, to hospice and palliative care. Lisa is currently the Manager, Clinical Compliance Education for Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) – a nationally recognized non-profit accreditation organization that has CMS Deeming Authority for Home Health, Hospice, Home Infusion Therapy, and DMEPOS. Lisa is responsible for providing comprehensive clinical, accreditation and industry education to ACHC customers and stakeholders as well as assisting providers with interpreting the ACHC Standards and Medicare Conditions of Participation.

Lisa’s experience has allowed her to successfully prepare and lead the home health and hospice agency she was previously employed with through the ACHC Accreditation process. Lisa has also worked as an ACHC Hospice Surveyor, affording her the opportunity to assist organizations with developing best practices and compliance strategies. Lisa speaks at national and state conferences and conducts workshops on the accreditation process as well as other relevant health care topics.

Additional Documentation Requests (ADR) for Home Health and Hospice
Presented by Alicia Montelongo, LVN
Approved for 2 CEUs

This session caters to Home Health and Hospice agency Owners, Administrators, Director of Nursing and Clinicians who are interested in learning how to prepare their offices for an ADR Review Cycle. As ADR Reviews increase across the nation, providers find themselves overwhelmed and underprepared for the task of properly responding to the Additional Document Request.  Join us and learn how to stay ahead of the ADR request hamster wheel.

 Objectives:
Attendees can expect to learn:
1. How to maintain compliance throughout the patient episode
2. What should be sent during an ADR Review
3. What should not be sent during an ADR review
4. How to prepare a proper narrative to include in your response

Attendees will experience an interactive class with real life scenarios which include:
– ADR request
– ADR responses that were approved
– ADR responses that were denied
– Key components in appealing a denied ADR

Alicia Montelongo Vargas is a clinician who has been in the Home Health and Hospice industry for over 25 years. Alicia has served as a consultant and assisted agencies nationwide with creating, developing, and expanding their businesses; In addition, Alicia is adept at working closely with agencies who require assistance in Compliance, Accreditation, and Licensing. Alicia is also an OASIS Review Specialist and one of the best ADR Response Analysts in the country. She is a managing partner of Ardent Pediatric Home Health in Texas and has first-hand knowledge of what it takes to manage a successful Home Health.

Diagnosis Coding: Guidelines and Conventions
Presented by Michael Tidd, COS-C, HCS-D
Approved for 1.5 CEUs

Diagnosis coding is essential for all medical settings.  It is essential to know the details contained in the guidelines and conventions to ensure that your coding is complete and accurate.  It is essential to know the PDGM Case-Mix model for Home Health to ensure you are paid correctly.  While may agencies think they are coding compliantly because they copy the diagnosis codes from the inpatient setting, they may not be following the guidelines and most likely are not receiving the correct reimbursement under home health.  Hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and rehab centers are not paid the same way home health is and as such their coding practices are different.  Simply copying coding from the H&P will typically allow the agency to bill but will not always generate the highest reimbursement for home health billing.

This class will provide instruction on the current coding guidelines and conventions and provide additional references to ensure your agency knows how to code properly and eliminate rejections by iQIES and the Medicare Administrator Contractors when submitting OASIS and claims.  The coding guidelines and conventions are applicable to all billing practices and thus this class will provide training for beginners or a refresher to experienced diagnoses coders.  This course will provide the fundamentals, understanding and use of the coding guidelines and manual so that you can begin diagnosis coding and gives the essential understanding of home health billing practices to receive the highest reimbursement under PDGM.

Objectives:
1. Understand the Coding Guidelines
2. Understand the Coding conventions
3. Learn how to use the diagnoses coding manual
4. Verbalize the process of using the coding manual to properly select a disease diagnosis provided by the 5. physician to obtain the correct ICD-10-CM code
5. Demonstrate your knowledge by correctly coding scenarios
6. Verbalize the use of Excludes 1 and Excludes 2 notes.
7. Verbalize the proper actions when Code First and Use Additional code appear in the coding manual
8. Identify the terms required to use when looking up a diagnosis in the coding manual
9. Verbalize the proper action when seeing See or See Also in the coding manual alphabetic index
10. Discuss what the coding guidelines provide with regard to etiology and manifestations of a disease and how to sequence diagnosis codes

 Michael Tidd has over 20 years of experience in the Home Care Industry and is a frequent speaker at HealthCare Synergy Workshops and Webinars. He is a Software Developer, LVN, and Certified in ICD-9/10 Coding and OASIS (COS-C, HCS-D). As the Clinical Manager for HealthCare Synergy, he directs the Outsourced Management Services, assists in regulatory requirement of Synergy EMR, oversees the Clinical Documentation Auditing provided to clients, and participates on the clinical board for Synergy EMR. Michael continues to educate agencies on the ongoing regulations that CMS produces, the proper application of the Medicare Conditions of Participation, and completing timely, accurate, and defendable clinical documentation to survive in the current Medicare Reimbursement Model.

The Four Pillar Approach to Wound Healing
Presented by Dzuy Luu, PA-C
Approved for 1 CEU

Professional Wound Specialists is a comprehensive wound specialty that focuses on elevating standards in wound healing through a multi-specialty integration and utilization of advanced modalities through a team approach delivered in every setting of wound care available.

Objectives:
1. How comprehensive wound healing goes beyond traditional wound healing
2. Discuss Professional Wound Specialists’ surgical approach
3. How to apply advanced wound modalities
4. Describing skin evaluation and management for preventative care

Dzuy Luu grew up in Pomona, California. He went to college at California Polytechnic University then to Touro University where he received a Master’s of Science in Physician Assistant Studies. After spending a few years practicing Internal Medicine, Dzuy joined Doctor Wu working as a Wound Care Provider. Later, receiving his American Board of Wound Management Certified Wound Specialist certification. Dzuy is currently serving as an adjunct professor to Touro University’s Wound elective rotation. Lately, Dzuy has taken on a new role. He is expanding the Professional Wound Specialist medical model to new regions allowing for the spread of modern wound care modalities into rural and urban areas. To increase the exposure to these wound modalities, he created a wound care education program dedicated to all levels of nursing and practitioners.

***Topics and CEUs are subject to change without notice